The author presents problems which were encountered while writing a synthesis of the Czech literature aimed at a Polish readership (History of the Czech literature. Wrocław 2010): 1. The understanding of the notion of national literature, 2. The close connection between some “national literatures”, 3. Historical conditioning of the changing situation of the Czech literature, 4. The advantages and disadvantages of a comparative approach, 5. The disadvantages and advantages of a non-comparative approach, 6. The character of Polish syntheses of Czech literature in the 19th and 20th centuries, 7. The search for primary categories typical for Czech literature.